Allegiance
by PhantomBlueRose
Summary: How each Avenger decided to follow Steve Rogers and how Steve Rogers realized he was part of a new team.
1. 1 Tony

Tony Stark doesn't react well to authority.

That isn't overly surprising given his massive unresolved issues with his father (not that he'd admit to those issues) and the fact that Obadiah Stane, the other father figure in his life, put out a contract on him and when that failed tried to kill Tony himself.

But there is also the fact that people in authority never actually seem to want Tony. They want Tony's genius, his skills and his money. The fact that Tony might have his own ideas and opinions never seems to enter their minds. And Tony hates that. Because usually he's halfway to a solution by the time they've realized there's a problem.

So when S.H.I.E.L.D. calls him in to deal with the Loki/tesseract problem he's already on edge. And getting confronted with Captain Steven Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America, a.k.a. Howard Stark's paragon of virtue, it was pretty much inevitable that things were not going to end well. Captain America is the exact opposite of Tony Stark. He was the perfect soldier compared to Tony's inability to play well with others. They were bound to rub each other the wrong way, especially since everyone seemed to assume that Rogers should be the leader of Fury's super secret boy band despite the fact that the guy had just woken up from being frozen for seven decades.

Of course the influence of Loki's staff didn't help.

The fact that out of all the Avengers Tony was the first one to decide to follow Captain America was not only ironic but also essentially a miracle. But Tony was also the first to actually fight alongside Steve Rogers. Not in Stuttgart, where Tony largely came in and stole the show, or when Thor showed up, where Cap tried to be the only adult in the room, but instead when Tony and Steve worked to get the Hellicarrier's engine back on line.

Rather than try to take charge Cap had relied on Tony to determine their plan of attack. While he wasn't afraid to tell Tony to 'speak English' or make sure Tony wasn't likely to get shredded while giving the engine a push start, Steve trusted that Tony knew what he was doing and did everything possible to make sure Tony was able to do what needed to get done. Including knocking a grenade out of the air and braving gun fire in order to pull the red lever.

Rather than treat Tony like an underling who needed to do what he was told Cap treated him as a teammate with his own ideas and skills to contribute. And Tony decided that maybe, just maybe, he was okay with following Captain America.

Even if the guy was wearing spangly glorified tights.


	2. 2 Bruce

After his 'accident', life became a lot more complicated for Bruce Banner. It wasn't only having to constantly stay on the move to avoid being captured by General Ross, or anyone else who thought an army of indestructible green rage monsters was a good idea. It wasn't even the guilt over the destruction the Other Guy had caused and the fear that it would happen again.

Life was complicated by the fact that almost everything in his life had to be acceptable to both Bruce Banner _and_ the Other Guy. If Bruce did something the Other Guy disagreed with there would be a price to pay. Maybe not right away but eventually the Other Guy's feelings on the matter would come out and the results were never pretty.

Bruce had warmed to Steve Rogers rather quickly. It would have been easy for Bruce to resent Steve. After all, he was what Bruce had been working to replicate when he had his accident. But Steve's easy acceptance of Bruce when they arrived on the Hellicarrier went a long way to soothing any wounds that Steve's presence might have opened up. And when Steve listened to his and Tony's doubts about Fury's place and then acted on them, showing up in the lab with the HYDRA weapon then Bruce knew without a doubt that Steve Rogers was a good man. A man who could be trusted not to misuse power – or want to re-create the circumstance that brought the Other Guy into being.

For Hulk it took a little longer. Hulk wasn't happy being on the Hellicarrier. It was too confined and had too many people who could try and hurt Bruce/Hulk. And being attacked by the quinjet didn't help matters either. What did help was the fact that the Captain wasn't afraid of the Hulk and didn't want to lock Hulk away like other people did. In fact the Captain seemed to think that Hulk was helpful. And when being helpful involved lots of smashing Hulk was glad to oblige.


	3. 3 Natasha

If love was for children then trust was for innocents and victims. Natasha Romanov had stopped being innocent at an age when most people still believed in cooties and she had long ago sworn to never again be a victim. Trust was dangerous. Trust in the wrong person would get you (and likely a number of other people) killed.

That was why Natasha understood S.H.I.E.L.D.'s threat list. You never knew when someone might turn and you damn well better be ready for the inevitable betrayal if you wanted to minimize the fallout. So everyone, even Coulson's idolized Captain America, needed to be watched and observed.

Clint Barton was the lone exception for Natasha. Barton had held her life in his hands when S.H.I.E.L.D. had sent him to eliminate her. And in making a different call he'd put a crack in the walls she had built up to protect herself. Every time he stood up for her to some agent who thought that the Black Widow should never have been allowed to live, never mind become one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top covert agents, and every time he refused to leave her when logic would dictate he should save himself, Hawkeye made another crack in those walls until Natasha found herself trusting him despite herself.

So it only made sense that Clint Barton would be how Captain America gained Natasha Romanov's loyalty.

Natasha knew that Clint wouldn't have an easy time after being taken over by Loki. No matter how obvious it was that he wasn't responsible for his actions, there would always be people who would be watching and waiting for him to betray them all again.

But apparently Steve Rogers was not one of those people. All he needed was Natasha's assurance that Barton was on the level. Despite having just met her, he trusted her, and through her Clint Barton. One simple nod of the head was enough for Captain America.

And that trust, so freely given, was enough for Natasha Romanov to allow herself the luxury of trust one more time.


	4. 4 Clint

Distance is a sniper's best tool. Maintaining physical distance from your target makes detection less likely. This improves your chances of eliminating your target and then getting the hell out of there without being getting taking out yourself. Maintaining emotional distance is also necessary. When preparing to take someone out you have to be able to ignore the fact that you are ending a human life, no matter how justified your actions may be. When making a kill, keeping your distance can be the difference between success and failure.

Clint Barton has always been good at keeping his distance. But after Loki he finds it almost impossible to do so. It's bad enough to know that he's helped someone hell bent on taking over the planet but it's even worse walking through the carrier and seeing the evidence of his actions. It isn't just the physical damage providing stark proof of his betrayal, it is the looks he gets as he walks with Tasha and Captain Rogers to the quinjet launch bays. The accusing looks sent his way are bad but it is the look of fear in the eyes of his fellow agents that acts like a punch to gut. These are people he has worked and fought with. He would even consider some of them to be friends. And now many of them see only a dangerous traitor.

On the battlefield you need to be able to trust those standing beside you completely. It is why Clint and Tasha are so successful when they are assigned missions together. There is no hesitation when they work together because they know that the other one always has their back. And judging by the non-verbal exchange between them earlier there was some level of trust built up between Tasha and Rogers.

But Clint can't say the same for him and Captain America. While Clint is more than willing to follow anyone if it means getting a shot at Loki and trying to erase some of the red Loki has put in Clint's ledger, Steve Rogers has no reason to trust Clint. All Rogers knows about Clint's is Clint's betrayal. He has no reason to trust him to fight next to him.

So even though he doesn't show it, Clint is flabbergasted when Rogers outlines their plan of attack after the Banner/Hulk shows up. Not only does he recognize how to maximize Clint's strengths, he also puts him in a position of absolute trust. Rogers is trusting Clint to watch their backs and give them the intel they need to contain the Chitauri army. The fact that Rogers shows absolutely no hesitation in placing Clint in that position is balm on the mental wounds Loki has inflicted.

Clint knows that what Loki did to him won't go away overnight. He has a lot to atone for now. But thanks to Cap he knows that he has the opportunity to take those first steps towards making things right.


	5. 5 Thor

As the oldest son and heir to Odin Allfather Thor was unused to following orders. He was a prince of his people, and with that status came both the privilege and burden of leadership. Of course, while Thor had always understood and enjoyed the privilege he was born into, it was not until his time spent on Midgaard that he learned the burden that came with that privilege. He had thirsted for the glories of the battlefield without understanding the cost. While some battles were necessary to stop those who cared only about increasing their own power, even those brought pain and suffering to those being protected and those doing the protecting.

Despite the pain caused by Loki's schemes and repudiation of the bond he and Thor had shared, Thor was gratified to find that Steven Rogers was a kindred spirit who also understood the costs of battle. He knew that a good commander must balance the needs of those serving under him with the needs of those who could not fight the battles themselves. Never was this more evident than when he gave the order to close the portal. Thor had seen for himself the desperate hope on Captain America's face as he watched the portal for any sign of the Man of Iron. And Thor had seen the anguish when the Captain realized the portal needed to be closed before the explosion could reach Midgaard and harm the people they were trying to protect.

And yet the Captain did not try to deny what he knew, or to force the decision on to another. Instead he gave the order to close the portal and shoulder the guilt that would surely come with the Man of Iron's death.

In the end while Thor acknowledged the Captain's excellent tactics and fighting abilities, it was the Captains innate understand of lessons that Thor had learned at great cost that convinced Thor that this was a human worth following.


	6. 6 Steve

Steve Rogers was exhausted. He hadn't lied to Fury when he said that after sleeping in the ice for nearly 70 years that he'd probably slept enough. Especially since now sleep was an enemy that even Captain America couldn't defeat. More often than not, falling asleep resulted in flashbacks of being in the Valkyrie after he had crashed, lying there in pain as snow and icy water covered him, the pain and cold slowly causing everything to fade to black.

Even if he managed to exhaust himself enough to essentially pass out at night, the dreams still came. Most nights he was back on the HYDRA train, straining to reach Bucky and watching in horror as his best friend fell to his death screaming in terror. He'd wake up covered in sweat, unshed tears filling his eyes as he reached for a friend that wasn't there.

Other nights he dreamed that Howard had found him in time for Steve to make his date with Peggy at the Stork Club. Peggy was always dressed in the red dress that had captivated him from the moment he saw her wearing it. She would teach Steve to dance and somehow he'd manage not to step on her toes. He'd lean in for a kiss and then wake up to a dark and empty room, swearing he could still feel her warmth in his arms and smell her perfume wafting through his apartment.

On a good night Steve might manage four or five hours of sleep. Bad nights might seem him not managing to get any rest at all. Now after everything that had happened with Loki and the Chitauri army, all Steve wanted to do was go somewhere and collapse. Instead he was at the Shawarma Palace at Tony Stark's insistence.

Looking around at his fellow Avengers, Steve was struck by what an amazing group of people he had been privileged to fight beside. Thor had fought against his own brother to protect a people not his own. Bruce had turned the worst part of his life into something that could be used to protect people rather than just cause destruction. Rather than giving into the pain and the doubts caused by being under Loki's spell Barton and managed to channel that into helping stop the invasion that he had (unwillingly) been a participant of. Natasha had refused to give up on anything, whether it was Clint Barton or closing that portal despite the fact that none of this was something that her training could have hoped to address..

And Tony had put Steve to shame. Despite the flippant face that Howard's son showed the world, it only masked the heart of a good man who was willing to lie down a wire to protect those who could not protect themselves.

With his shawarma lying untouched in front of him Steve Rogers propped his face on his hand and realized that while these people weren't the Howling Commandos, this was a team that he felt honored to be a part of. And as he started drifting into sleep, Steve realized that for the first time since he woke up in this loud, fast and overwhelming time he felt safe, content and warm.


End file.
